Rosewood and Music

Last week the Gibson Guitar Company was raided by the Feds, records were confiscated and equipment and product were confiscated. What was their crime? They were in violation of an Indian law and political idealists.

There are American laws on the books that honor foreign environmental laws and it seems Gibson was using Rosewood imported from India without the proper export license being obtained by the Indian export company. So the U.S. authorities seized the illegal wood and in effect have almost shut down the company.

The interesting point in all this is not that the U.S. is supporting foreign laws (which is usually a good thing to do) but that the importer who brought the wood into the country also sold much of the same Rosewood to other instrument and specialty companies. The importer and the other companies have not been targeted and have not had any of their stocks confiscated.

The article I read about this event indicated that one of the reasons for the Gibson raid is that the owner of the company is a strong contributor to conservative party causes, while the importer and other users of the wood seem to be neutral in their political beliefs or supporters of more liberal philosophies.

My only comment is that the law needs to be applied evenly or not at all.